The Paustenbaughs

They are 1 in a Million

As someone who moves every 2-3 years you would think that packing up and moving our lives, including moving away from friends, would be old hat by now.  Very much not so.

I miss my friends.  The friends that know me. The ones that don't care that I'm inappropriate, have the sense of humor of a 14 year old and enjoy brainless tv on occasion.  Those friends.

Sure, I'm meeting some incredible ladies here that will also go in this category, but it always takes me a few months to "feel people out" so to speak and figure out who I gel with.  I'll get there; I know I will. 

In the meantime though, it gets lonely.

Creating has always been therapeutic for me, but especially so during moves.  I find myself reaching for photos of family and friends and laughing while I cut paper!

Oh how I miss them all and for different reasons!  So happy to have these photos and to have this creative outlet to look back at the fun times we had!

I never know what to do with vellum so I decided to wing it and stitch a little envelope for my journaling tag because I knew I wanted more than just a few words for this layout.  I needed more than a few words and I'm so happy with how it turned out. 

Here's to making more amazing friends that will shed tears with me when moving time comes around once again in 2 years!

Documenting a Move

During our recent move I realized I had never snapped any photos during any of the 8 moves we have gone through so far.  It still amazes me each move how quickly our house goes from completely full to not a stitch of our belongings in sight.  It's amazing how it all gets done with little packing on our part!

This past move I decided to get my phone out and snap a few photos throughout the week as it progressed from full to empty. I knew I had to document it to use with the new Ormolu Days of the Week Flair (love those!)

Of coure around Thursday my heart starts getting really heavy, especially when I know it's a place we'll never come back to again.  We were in this house twice, which is rare in the military, and we had a lot of memories here.  Babies crawled, teeth were lost and new health choices were made. Lots of good memories.

I know with each move we make more happy memories and new milestones are reached, but with each one it also gives us time to reflect on how we've grown and what great things are to come for us.

Family Time

Before we came out to Japan we took the time to travel around and see our families and friends. It's always great spending time with them since we normally don't see them often, but it was especially nice this time, and a tad bittersweet, since we knew it would be a long time before we saw them again.

The girls always soak up their time with the grandparents because I've said it once and I'll say it again-they have the best grandparents hands down! Not just one set, but both sets of grandparents are amazing!

I created this layout for the Ormolu blog today featuring my favorite items - flair.  Love all of them and use them whenever I can!

 

Summer 2012

Although the Summer of 2012 has just barely begun, we are already having the time of our lives right now and have had lots of adventures so far.  And we still have 2 months to go until it's time to think about another school year, so many more adventures to come!

As soon as I got my new Ormolu goodies I knew I had to use the "Summer 2012" flair immediately!  I was able to capture this photo of the girlies on one of our first days at the beach and I'm pretty sure it'll epitomize this summer for us!

My scrapping right now is pretty slim pickings since I haven't received my shipment of stash goodies yet, so I'm calling it scrapping on a diet for the next couple of weeks.  Genius, no?!?!

I sent myself some papers, stickers, and some embellishments that I knew I would need, but that's it.  The majority of my stash,  including tools are hopefully flying over the Pacific as we speak!

I'm loving these new Ormolu goodies and can't wait to dig into some more soon!

Opportunity

I've had a lot of time to reflect and think over the past few weeks.  Sure our lives have also been a whirlwind of moving, packing, meetings and adjusting our internal clocks, but the everyday stuff that clogs up my brain has taken a backseat right now.

Today I'm grateful for scrapbooking opportunities.  This hobby of mine has turned into something I never would have imagined.  No, I'm not a "big name" scrapbooker where offers and opportunities come in at every turn, but I've had some amazing ones that I have to stop and be grateful.  

There are a lot of very talented creative minds out there and the fact that I'm chosen for a magazine, design team or feature makes me stop in my tracks.  I still get goose bumps and let out a squeal when an email comes across my inbox and wonder why they picked me out of everyone else.  I'm grateful and will never take it for granted.

I'm touching on this today because I had 2 opportunities that came across inbox recently.  One I have to wait and share later, but another I get to share today.

I received an email right before I moved asking if Scrapbook Trends could feature me in the June 2012 Award Winning Style section.  It took me about .2 seconds to say OF COURSE!!  So excited to be there this month and it's one of my favorite layouts from my Ormolu gallery!

Yesterday I was featured on the Create Blog and was able to share one of my favorite Pebbles layout too!

Thank you for letting me share my opportunities here!  Counting my blessings this week for sure!

Team Calls

There are a couple of calls I want to let you know about from a past team and one I'm currently on and ADORE!!

You all know I love and adore Ormolu and pretty much everything that Kaitlin produces!  Doesn't hurt that she is one of the nicest people I've worked with and known!  So if you love Ormolu as much as I do then  you'll love this announcement:

Ormolu Creative Team Call

Such great news!  So get those applications in because you only have until next Wednesday for the deadline.  And we've seen the new stuff coming out and you will absolutely love it.  Every time I think I won't love something more, I always do.  You've seen this, but this is one of my favorite layouts made with Ormolu goodies:

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Also, my friend Rachel is having a design team call for her kit club, Scrapbooking From The Inside Out.  Rachel is also such a great person to work with and her kits are always packed with amazing goodies.  The best part?  She encourages all of us to look inward and scrap those emotions and feelings that maybe we wouldn't normally want to and think about. 

SFTIO Design Team Call Info

I made some of my favorite layouts with Rachel's kits too.  This one I think is my absolute favorite:

So if you're thinking you want to try out a team, I HIGHLY recommend either or both of these teams!  You never know until you apply!

 

Also, don't forget Spring Training is still happening!  Wendy has shared her organization tips to start us off and Erin Cobb will be sharing some really great photography tips coming up!

 

Thirty Nine

My thirties have been very good to me and today I'm embarking in my last year in this decade.  

I don't get worked up about age and have no problem with the big 4-0.  Quite actually, I think I'll embrace it.  I have come into my own in my 30's, although let's not kid ourselves, because there is still much to be done!

 

As seen on the Ormolu blog

This last year of my 30's is going to be an excellent one and I can't wait! I'll visit more countries in this last year than in my entire existence combined and I'm itching to start traveling.  I'm also taking this time for me and my family.  No working and focusing on the things I'm loving right now.

 

So today I'm off to do a little birthday shopping and this evening the girls and I will head over for some yummy cupcakes.  I have a slight cupcake addiction and today I'm feeding it!

Have a great day-I'm off to have a great one myself!

Numbers, Numbers Everywhere

I have a new layout up for the Ormolu Blog today using numbers in our life right now. I did a layout like this a few years ago about the numerology in our lives at the moment, and since our lives change what seems like every week I thought it was time to do one again.  Let's just say I got a wee bit crazy here and it went a little out of control.  I'm just warning you!

See? I told you so!

It started out innocent enough with some simple color blocking, then well, let's just say I may have had a manic moment and things got a little out of control here! 

Anyway, this is our life right now in numbers.  In 2 years these will all be different once again and this is why I actually used the "one of a kind" flapper as well.  I wouldn't trade this one of a kind life for anything.  Yes, even in the midst of super stressful moves, I am still in it for the love of it.  I may not know what to do when these numbers one day stay the same for many years.

On a totally side note, I think I need a thousand of these Studio Calico letters now.  I misted them lightly with Schoolhouse and love the contrast.

Have a good Thursday!

Twine Love

I have noticed for quite some time that there are very, very few layouts and projects that I have absolutely no twine on them.  I may or may not have a slight addiction to twine of all colors.  It's always one of my finishing touches on a project and I should probably take stock in it at this point!

I made a layout for the Ormolu blog last week and instead of the twine being a finishing touch, I made it the center the project-literally and figuratively!

I finally got my Studio Calico "&" mask out and used it after all this time.  After I misted, I was going to stitch around it, but instead decided to go the easy route and wrap twine around it.  The shop has some great twine colors and I went with black on this one to contrast against the yellow mist.

I always like to see the changes in the girls from the first to the last day of school and it is amazing to see literally how much they've grown and changed in just 9 short months.  The hair, the height, the grown up looks just amaze me!  One thing that hasn't changed? The absolute glee on Ella's face going into and coming out of kindergarten.  Never a dull moment with that one!

Have a great Monday!

Spring Means, uh, Halloween?

Today is March 12th, so you know what that means?!  It's time to TAKE TWELVE!  Today only you can save 12% on any 2 items, including the Take 12 Guided Inspiration Kit for taking your photos.  

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Today I have a new layout up on the Ormolu Blog and well, since it's spring I did a Halloween layout.  I tend to scrap against the grain and this is no different!  You have to go with what inspires you, right?!

I had these great Negative Number tags from the Studio Calico Brookly Flea Kit and started with those first, well, after the photos of course!

Maya and Ella decided that for Halloween this past year they would convert their pillow pets into costumes.  They loved their costumes and I think they rocked them too!  So for an evening we had some pets in the house again and the only kind of pets I want for a while-they're house trained!! 

And Ella has her costumes planned out for the next 5 years!

Happy Monday!  I'm off to continue taking my photos!